The last time you purchased a used vehicle, did you remember to get the CARFAX™? If you’re like many of today’s car buyers, chances are you requested a printout of the car’s history. In recent years, the name CARFAX has become almost synonymous with digital vehicle history reports in much the same way that the brand name Kleenex is used to refer to any old brand of tissues.
A clean CARFAX report may help you gain some peace of mind about that soon-to-be new-to-you vehicle. Still, in reality, the information on a vehicle history report is only as good as the data that feeds it.
Fortunately, there’s a better, more reliable way to aggregate and store data about a vehicle, and it just happens to be powered by blockchain technology.
Today, we’re exploring the benefits that come by updating the standard of vehicle history reporting. At Carnomaly, we propose a more reliable, transparent, and secure method than your average name-brand vehicle history report.
The Trouble With Traditional Vehicle History Reports
While traditional vehicle history reporting may have been a big step in the right direction at the time of their creation, there are some serious holes in the data and how that data is collected.
CARFAX maintains billions of vehicle records, gathering information from a long list of entities, including:
- Local Motor Vehicle Bureaus
- Insurance Companies
- Service Facilities
- Bodywork and Repair Services
- Rental Agencies
- Inspection Stations
- The Vehicle’s Manufacturer
- First Responders like Fire and Police Departments
The information contained in traditional reports can include:
- Accident History
- Changes in Ownership
- Odometer Discrepancies
- Failed Emission Tests
- Inspection History
- Flood Status
- Fleet Usage
- Lemon Status
While this is undoubtedly a good start for gathering information on a vehicle’s history, ultimately, it’s up to those agencies and organizations to actually report the data and have it linked to the vehicle’s unique Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
Oftentimes critical events in a vehicle’s history simply aren’t reported the way they should be and wind up missing when it comes time to review the report. Similarly, not all maintenance and repair services report all of their work on a vehicle to reporting services.
Missing information like maintenance performed by the vehicle owner or a private shop, for instance, means that despite having a clean “Bill of Health,” there could be some serious holes in the data that could potentially lead to equally serious risks.
Vehicle History Reporting is an Ideal Use-Case for Blockchain
When you get right down to it, blockchain technology really is the perfect solution to the problem of unreliable vehicle history reporting. After all, information stored in this digital ledger called blockchain is immutable, meaning it cannot be changed or deleted. This is ideal for painting a more robust, transparent, and detailed picture of a vehicle’s true history.
By aggregating and verifying data from all of the traditional sources as well as user-generated data on a vehicle’s history, blockchain-powered vehicle history reporting solutions, like Carnomaly’s CarrChain, offer a future-focused solution to the problem of unreliable reports.
Key Benefits of Storing Vehicle History on the Blockchain
The benefits of shifting vehicle history reporting to the blockchain are numerous. Still, the biggest wins for the case to add vehicle history to the digital ledger lie in blockchain’s defining characteristics: its decentralization and immutability.
Here are the top benefits of storing vehicle history reports on the blockchain.
It's Reliable: Blockchain Provides a Single Source of Truth for a Vehicle's History
Throughout its lifespan, a vehicle’s history can be as varied as its owner’s, and the sources of that history just as disparate. Blockchain has the power to bring all of those different sources of information together, providing a single source of truth when it comes time to dig into the life of that car or truck you’re considering.
It's Secure: Vehicle History Reporting is More Transparent on the Blockchain
Information stored on the blockchain is immutable. That means that once the information has been added and verified, it cannot be deleted or altered in any way. Incidents and events in the lifespan of a vehicle become a permanent part of its record.
This isn’t just important for uncovering a vehicle’s less desirable past. It’s also essential for getting a clear picture into the proactive care your potential new-to-you vehicle received from its previous owners. After all, you may be willing to pay just a bit more for a vehicle with a verifiable record of never-a-day-late oil changes and a perfect maintenance history.
Positive or negative, information is simply more transparent on the blockchain, meaning it’s more trustworthy than any other source currently available.
It's Incentivized: You Can Earn Rewards for Maintaining Your Vehicle History Report
If you knew you’d get paid for showing up for your oil change on time, we’d venture to guess that you’d be hard-pressed to miss that appointment, right?
Thanks to digital vehicle rewards systems like our own CarrChain, vehicle owners can earn cryptocurrency rewards each time they perform maintenance or upgrades to their vehicles and log those activities to the CarrChain app.
By incentivizing vehicle maintenance and streamlining the process by which vehicle owners can log repairs and other activities, we’re helping to create a marketplace of high-quality used vehicles that are well-cared-for and priced fairly.
It's Great for Vehicle Sellers, Too: Storing Vehicle Data on the Blockchain Can Increase Its Value
With a digital vehicle history report like CarrChain, vehicle owners can ensure they’re getting the best price possible when it’s time to sell. After all, buyers are more likely to pay top dollar for a vehicle with a well-documented and transparent history of routine maintenance and care.
A blockchain-powered online vehicle history report can pull in data from all of the traditional sources used by other reporting agencies like CARFAX, while also offering the ability to add a myriad of additional sources right from the application — even maintenance or upgrades performed by the vehicle’s owner.
The result is a more complete picture and a more trustworthy history of the vehicle in question. In fact, with CarrChain, this trustworthiness is demonstrated by a vehicle’s Value Score, an at-a-glance look at the value of a particular vehicle.
What Kinds of Vehicle Information is Stored on the Blockchain?
Wondering what kind of information about your vehicle’s history can be stored on the blockchain? The answer is nearly limitless.
In general, CarrChain members will most frequently log actions like:
- Oil Changes
- Tune-Ups
- Brake Pads & Drums
- New Tires
- Routine Inspections
- Accidents and Collisions
- Bodywork
- Changes in Ownership
- Custom Work
- Much More
Take a look at some of the upcoming features of the CarrChain app for an overview of the information available and the type of activities that can be logged for your car or truck.
How to Shift to a Digital Vehicle History Report Powered by Blockchain Technology
Taking your vehicle’s history report online — and getting rewarded for taking care of it — is as easy as signing up for CarrChain.
Here’s how it works:
- Sign up for CarrChain: While CarrChain is still in development, you can already sign up to take it for a test drive by creating a profile right here.
- Purchase CARR: CARR is our own ERC-20 token minted to act as the native currency for our various auto industry solutions. While other cryptocurrencies can be used throughout our platforms, using CARR is your ticket to membership and offers additional rewards and incentives when you choose to use it.
- Log Actions: Use the CarrChain interface to log any number of important events and actions throughout the life of your car.
- Get Rewarded: As a CarrChain member, you can earn cryptocurrency rewards just for taking care of your car and logging your activities in the application.
CarrChain Promised to be the New Standard of Vehicle History Reports
CarrChain promises to be the most complete repository of vehicle information available today. By combining data from a car’s Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) with what is now known as a Digital Vehicle Identification Number (DVIN), owners and sellers alike will now have unparalleled insight into the history of their vehicles.
And with the immutable and decentralized nature of blockchain technology, buyers will have access to the most trustworthy profile of potential vehicles on the market. We’d call that a win for all.
To stay up-to-date on the evolution of the Carnomaly ecosystem of automotive solutions powered by blockchain, connect with us on Telegram, or follow us on social media.